Marco Rubio’s mystery wordsmith unmasked: Aide axed over Nazi symbol video now pens US foreign policy
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has appointed Nate Hochman, a former Ron DeSantis speechwriter, to a senior State Department role, despite Hochman having been sacked from the DeSantis 2024 presidential campaign in 2023 over a video controversy linked to white supremacist imagery. Hochman now serves as deputy director of the department's policy planning office and as Rubio's chief speechwriter, a rehabilitation that has drawn scrutiny given the circumstances of his earlier dismissal and separate reports of him engaging sympathetically with a prominent white nationalist figure.
Hochman lost his DeSantis job after resharing a video that ended with the Florida state seal morphing into a Sonnenrad, a symbol the Anti-Defamation League classifies as neo-Nazi; he denied making the video and deleted the repost once he learned its meaning, and a later New Republic report found DeSantis campaign staff had actually created and seeded it. He also faced criticism over a recorded conversation with white nationalist Nick Fuentes, in which he told Fuentes he had "gotten a lot of kids based", though Hochman said he was trying to draw Fuentes out rather than agreeing with him. After stints at America 2100 and as an adviser to Senator Eric Schmitt, he joined the State Department, which has defended him as "a trusted and key member" advancing Rubio's foreign policy agenda.
In short
- Rubio hired ex-DeSantis aide Nate Hochman as senior speechwriter and policy official.
- Hochman was fired in 2023 over a video featuring a neo-Nazi symbol.
- He also faced scrutiny for a chummy exchange with white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Hochman’s appointment can be defended on the grounds that a past controversy should not permanently bar someone from public service, particularly when he denied creating the video, removed it after learning the symbol’s meaning and said his remarks to Fuentes were intended to draw him out. His subsequent policy work and the department’s confidence in him may support the view that he is qualified to help carry out Rubio’s agenda.
The case against
The appointment can reasonably be questioned because the video he reshared used imagery identified as neo-Nazi, and his recorded praise of Fuentes’s influence can appear sympathetic even given Hochman’s explanation. A senior role shaping foreign policy and the secretary’s public message calls for particular care about judgement and the signals an appointment sends, so critics may see further scrutiny as warranted.
Explained simply
The State Department is the part of the US government that manages relations with other countries. Its policy planning office helps develop long-term foreign policy ideas, while the secretary of state’s speechwriters help explain that policy publicly.
Marco Rubio is the secretary of state, the senior US official responsible for diplomacy. Nate Hochman, who previously wrote speeches for Florida governor Ron DeSantis, now holds a senior policy planning post and writes speeches for Rubio.
Hochman was dismissed from the DeSantis campaign after sharing a video that included a symbol associated with neo-Nazism; he said he did not make the video and removed it after learning what the symbol meant. He was also criticised over a conversation with white nationalist Nick Fuentes, saying he had been trying to draw Fuentes out. His appointment has brought renewed attention to those episodes and to the State Department’s role in shaping US policy.
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